What Happens When You Quit Smoking Weed

The Good and the Bad of What Happens When you Quit Smoking Weed

After you have done anything for long enough, especially something like smoke marijuana, then there are bound to be side effects that will arise from suddenly stopping. The good news is that the negative side effects are relatively short-lived and the positive results that will begin to occur when you kick your marijuana habit will far outweigh any short term effects of marijuana withdraw that you might experience. Like with any attempt at changing your behavior in a radical way, you are just as much breaking old mental habits and routines as you are physically detoxing your body of THC. It is also important to be honest with yourself about your current level of marijuana usage and how much of your life it may be taking up and what kind of void no longer smoking weed will leave. Lets face it, if you are a “pot head” like I was or in other words smoke weed every day, then going from smoking weed on a regular basis to suddenly not smoking weed any more its going to be a change physically, mentally and socially.

Physically and Mental Side Effects Of Quitting Smoking Weed

Insomnia. It isn’t uncommon to have a hard time getting to sleep at night, especially for the first few days after quitting but generally this will only last a few days.

Intense and Weird Dreams. One of the things that smoking weed for a long time does is take away most of your dreams at night. For some people when they first stop smoking weed, their dreams can be more intense than usual. This like the insomnia typically only last a few days.

Sharp Mood Swings. Smoking something like marijuana for a long period of time has an effect on your mental state and when that stimulant is taken away it’s an adjustment for your brain. The result can sometimes be sharp mood swings from feelings of enthusiasm about your choice to stop using weed and making a positive change to feelings of lethargy and wondering why you’re even trying to quit in the first place.

Lack of Appetite. Everyone who has smoked weed before has probably experienced what are called “the Munchies” which is basically the desire to eat large amounts of food, preferably something bad for you. When you take away the appetite stimulant of smoking marijuana then it can take a few days to a week for your body to readjust. This is why exercise is especially good for counter acting this and helping to boost your appetite to normal levels. Also try to avoid heavy foods that contain lots of fat, sugar, or salt and stick to lighter foods like white meats, vegetables, and fruits. This is also the perfect time to think about going on a detox diet, if even for a few days.

Mental Fog. Lets be honest, smoking weed on a long term and daily basis does not make anyone smarter and when you suddenly quit smoking weed you can still experience some of the negative side effects of this. Of all of the side effects of quitting weed this one probably lasts the longest and while typically most people begin to feel normal after a month it can last for longer but this will vary for every person.

Positive Side Effects of not Smoking Weed

More Money. Ever Wondered what happens when you quit smoking weed? well the most obvious answer is all the money that you used to spend of buying weed, pipes, papers, bongs, snack food and gas to go get the weed will now be staying where it should be, with you, not being wasted. Be smart with the extra money and spend it on things that will help you in the long run like paying down debt, investing, continuing your education or job related training. These are things will continue to benefit you and save you money for years to come. Once you have stopped smoking weed it becomes apparent very quickly that continually spending money on buying weed will just be money wasted as soon as its gone while education, savings and investments can provide security and benefits for a life time.

More Brain Power. When you successfully quit smoking weed it’s not going to make you a genius if you never were one before you started smoking. It is however, definitely going to make learning new skills and memorizing things much easier.

Loss of Fat. In addition to making food taste great, getting high on a regular basis makes most people lethargic and not feel like being active. This can have a pretty bad effect on the waistline over time and when you replace a couch bound smoking life style and eating habits with one that includes healthy food and exercise the results will often be a reduction in your body fat which is never a bad thing.

More Energy. While everyone is different, typically smoking lots of weed usually doesn’t make people super energetic and naturally when you stop you’re going to have more enthusiasm and energy as apposed to the sleepy apathetic state of being high. This can have a big impact on every area of your life and quitting weed doesn’t have to be the end of your self improvement if you don’t want it to be.

More Time to Do What You Want. Just like how the money that you save should be viewed as a valuable resource, the time you spend buying, smoking and being high is time that you can never get back. Once you quit smoking pot for good, you find that you have a hole that needs to be filled where smoking weed used to be. This is a great time to learn or do something new. Whether its learning a new language or rebuilding an engine, whatever your passions are, go do something enriching that you love doing.

There you have it, the positives and negatives of what happens when you quit smoking weed and embark on the next phase of your life, sober and free from marijuana.